ly: “not to do good—what is it, if not to do evil?”[1] “Hand in hand the evil man shall not be innocent;”[2] says the Holy Ghost; when the hands are folded together, doing nothing and having nothing to do, there is little use in looking for innocence and piety.
As Magdalene testifies of herself. The Scripture says of Magdalene: “Behold a woman that was in the citv a sinner.”[3] In what did her wickedness consist, that she was called by such an odious name? Father Ambrose Cataneus of our Society writes that St. Mary Magdalene appeared to a pious person in Spain who was saying the office in her honor, and said to that person: “In my lifetime I was a notorious sinner in the city, yet not in the way in which people generally understand the term; for the impure and unchaste actions imputed to me I never even dreamt of. I was of noble birth, and dwelt in a castle, and my only sin was idleness.” In the morning (so continues the description of her life), after lying long in bed, her whole occupation was to stand before the looking-glass and contemplate her beauty, taking a vain pleasure therein, curling her hair, and dressing in costly array; she was not content with the natural comeliness given her by God, but sought to increase it by the use of all sorts of cosmetics. Thus splendidly dressed, after having taken her meals, she did nothing the whole day but walk about the city, showing herself off and trying to attract attention. There was no social gathering at which Magdalene was not present, no company in which she was not to be found. She laughed, joked, and amused herself till late at night, and thereby gave occasion for impure desires in some, for rash judgments, suspicions, and envy in others, and scandal in nearly all. This was the life that deserved to be described by the Holy Ghost in the words: “A woman that was in the city a sinner.” And she was the woman from whom Our Lord drove out seven devils, that is, the seven deadly sins. And yet her life was only an idle, pleasure-seeking life.
And she has many imitators. My dear brethren how many Magdalenes are there not now-a-days in our Christian cities? How many young girls and married women who lead the same useless, luxurious life? How many are there not of the male sex who could with reason be classed amongst them in this respect, for they consume the precious time of their youth and manhood in walking about the
